The surfacing feature is great since it allows you to run a surfacing job without the need to use your CAM software.
Another cool feature would be the ability to make a straight edge on your wood stock. So essentially, just a command to move the spindle in the x axis, the y axis, or both axes to get two perpendicular edges.
Probably easy to do with macros but it would be a nice feature to have natively.
I actually was dreaming about my Altmill and in the dream, I was using the surfacing feature with an input of 0 for the Y axis setting. So first thing I do after waking up is run to the shop and give it a try.
Well guess what? It worksā¦kinda.
You do need to use the zig-zag pattern instead of spiral. And you need to flip the cut direction for a cut in the y direction. But with a 0 value for X or Y, the spindle will run in straight line. Unfortunately, you canāt square a piece in a single operation.
I was recently thinking about this as well. I was considering getting a jointer. However, I donāt do a lot of work with hardwood that would require milling like that. Then I figured I would just use the CNC.
I was going to draw up the cuts required but yeah something like the surfacing tool would be neat.
Nic
Iāve been woodworking for 30+ years and although a jointer would have been great, I have always managed without one by using a router and/or a thickness planer. If I had the space, I likely would have gotten one.
Of course, now that I have the CNC, I likely would never need a jointer, unless I needed to decrease my production costs.
I think this is usually called a āconversational milling wizardā. I have a few of these as plugins in another Mach3 machine, and Tormach and other hobby/prosumer machines have similar. Itās basically an extremely simple GCode generator for some typical operations like ācut a circleā, āslotā, etc.
Itās not all that unlike the probing tab or similar, so something a gSender hacker could take a look at. I havenāt gotten around to getting a gSender build environment running yet, but will keep it on my list 
